Our mission is to provide the ultimate founder support.

Photo of Dave Bailey, CEO Coach with a group of founders in Italy 2019.

PART ONE

How it all started

In 2019, CEO coach Dave Bailey started running group coaching programs for CEOs of scaling tech companies. His programs started receiving hundreds of applications… and it became clear why.

Once companies hit the growth phase, support for founders drops off a cliff. The number of challenges increases exponentially, and at the same time, far fewer people can relate.

Given the limited number of people that can help and large number of CEOs in need of support, Dave started Founder Coach as a coaching network that harnesses the experience and potential of each of its members.

“We see founder coaching as its own discipline.”

Dave Bailey, CEO of Founder Coach

PART TWO

Our higher purpose

Leadership is scientific; you can measure it, run experiments, figure out what works. Leadership is artistic; it’s about storytelling, finesse, creating something out of nothing.

However, we think of leadership as a craft; a practice learned by doing, inspired by others one step ahead, and honed over the course of a lifetime.

“Our purpose is to advance the craft of founder leadership.”

We see founders as craftspeople, working day-in and day-out on mastering their ability to lead and manage others. The craft is deeply practical, highly thoughtful, and constantly improving.

Founder Coach shares its purpose with every founder working to advance their own craft, and with every coach that aims to support them.

Photo of Dave Bailey, CEO Coach, started coaching in 2016.

Dave started coaching CEOs in 2016 after building three venture-backed businesses.

Photo of Dave Bailey, CEO Coach delivering a talk In Portugal, 2019.

Dave travelled the world to speak to groups of growth-stage CEOs and support local ecosystems.

Photo of Dave Bailey, CEO Coach delivering a group coaching program in Italy 2019.

Dave's first coaching programs for groups of CEOs began in 2019.

Many coaching formats are possible when you get a high-quality group together.

Photo of coaches at the Founder Coach Unconference, London 2022.

After Founder Coach began in 2021, we started to grow a network of experienced founder coaches.

Photo of a group of coaches at the Founder Coach Unconference, London 2022.

The 2022 Founder Coach Unconference brought together founder coaches from around the world.

Photo of Dave Bailey delivering a talk at the Founder Coach Unconference, London 2022.

Dave continues to speak with founder coaches around the world and champion the category.

Core Beliefs

Our coaching approach is different because we hold a number of beliefs that our competitors don’t.

Coaching and mentorship are complementary

Some radical coaches believe mentorship and coaching can’t co-exist. We believe the opposite—and that founder coaches should come with domain knowledge to provide the support founders want.

Peer coaching is only as good as your peers

Peer coaching is powerful when you can learn from the successes and failures of others. However, it can fail when your peers aren’t quite at your level. That’s why we take group curation so seriously.

Founder coaching and exec coaching are different

Every coach who works with founders and non-founders can sense the difference. Founder Coach goes beyond generic coaching frameworks to understand and address the unique challenges founders face.

Coaching is a network-driven business

The value of working with an experienced coach lies in the knowledge they gain working with other clients. Founder Coach is built to create and capture this Knowledge Network Effect.

Team

Who's behind Founder Coach

Founder Coach was started in 2021 by CEO coach Dave Bailey and Lorena Morais to expand the impact of founder coaching globally.

Today, Founder Coach works along side an extended team of experienced coaches, facilitators, instructional designers, developers, editors and advisors.